In this assignment, I intend to discuss the many different teaching styles that can be adopted by teachers and coaches.

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Rachel Wilkinson

In this assignment, I intend to discuss the many different teaching styles that can be adopted by teachers and coaches. Each person has their own individual preference on the way he/she presents information and the style each chooses depends on several variables.

There are six variables and throughout the essay I shall portray them all. These include:

  • The teacher’s personality and abilities.
  • The type of activity to be taught.
  • The ability of those being taught.
  • The level of motivation of those being taught.
  • The age range of the students.
  • Environmental factors.

Firstly, I will recognise the different stages in the learning process and how a coach should effectively structure his/her practices according to the above variables.

There are three phases of learning. In the cognitive phase the learner understands the requirements of the task. There is some trial and error learning in this phase. For example if a novice tennis player is in the cognitive phase and needs to understand the serve, his/her teacher could demonstrate the correct technique and highlight important points (cueing) so that the player builds up a mental image of what needs to be done.  This ‘visualisation’ of the movement is more effective if the teaching is simple, clear and concise.

The second stage, the associative phase is the practice phase in which the learner receives feedback. Take the novice tennis player who is now aware of what needs to be done for the serve and has tried various strategies. His/her service is now more consistent and most serves fall into the service box. The performer is concentrating on getting the service lower and into different areas of the service box and the teacher is giving feedback. The performer is starting to detect and correct errors, even without the teachers help.

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In the final or autonomous phase execution of the skill is almost automatic. The performer of the serve is now confident and able to consistently perform an accurate serve with the minimum amount of thought. The performer can now concentrate on more complex responses.

When coaching or teaching a novice the tennis serve, there may be times when improvements could be slow – performance could even get worse. After twenty trials the novice may be getting fewer serves in the serving box than after ten trials. Give the novice a rest and reassess the goals. Go back to technique and ...

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